Rabbit Wall Bust Egg Carton Craft

And now I present my homage to those animal wall busts that are all the rage at the moment. Of course, a rabbit head is not typically a candidate for mounting… but at Easter time? I say: "Why not, eh?"

Note: This craft is suitable for intermediate to advanced crafters.

To make the Rabbit Wall Bust you will need:

- 1 egg carton

- a pair of scissors

- a serrated steak knife

- a hole punch

- a pencil

- white craft glue

- liquid acrylic paints in your choice of colours (I used grey, white, pink and black)

- a paint brush

- Gesso (optional)

- newspaper (to protect your work surface)

- container of water (to clean your paint brush)

Instructions:

Before getting started, be sure to inspect your egg carton for compatibility with this craft. For the Rabbit Wall Bust, I used a Burnbrae Farms egg carton. Other cartons may or may not be similar, so be certain to check that out first.

Cut the carton into 3 separate sections: the top, the bottom and the flap. The flap can be thrown into the recycling bin.

Make the basic rabbit face by taking the bottom of the egg carton and cutting away two egg cups and a center bump all in one unit as shown. I used a serrated steak knife for this step but, if you're careful, a pair of scissors may do the trick as well.

Once again using the steak knife,  cut off the next small center bump. This will be the rabbit's mouth. You will need to cut away three additional egg cups to serve as eye balls and eye lashes. Take a few moments to tidy and trim the edges of all your pieces.

Make the eye lashes by taking one of the trimmed egg cups and cutting it in half. Now create lashes by cutting slits into the top edges of each half egg cup.

To make the remainder of the pieces, you will need the egg carton top. Carefully cut away some of the flatter sections of the egg carton top, keeping the pieces as large as possible. On two of the larger flat pieces, draw two big ears and two small inner ears.  For a touch of character, I made the ears two different sizes.

Cut out all ear parts. From some of the remaining flat bits, cut out two long teeth and three long, narrow whiskers. Using the hole punch, punch out two pupils.

You should now be in possession of all the necessary rabbit parts: one face, two eyeballs, two eye lashes, two pupils, one mouth, two teeth, two ears, two inner ears, and three whiskers.

The next step is optional but ultimately, it makes a stronger and longer-lasting bust. Covering my work surface with a protective layer of newspaper, I give all pieces a coat of gesso. Gesso is a thick gypsum-based liquid that is used as a primer for all kinds of art work.

Once the gesso has dried, you can now paint each of the components. Here is where you can put your individual touch on this craft. I chose to paint my rabbit grey, white, pink and black, however you don't have to. Feel free to experiment with colour here! By the way, I used liquid acrylic paints available at any craft shop to paint my rabbit.

Allow the paint to dry fully before glueing everything together. Start the process by joining each small inner ear to each large ear using a not-too-thick layer of glue.

Next, take your serrated steak knife and poke a slit into the back of, and about half way down, each eye socket as shown.

Place a bead of glue along each ear slit, and poke the ears into them.

To make the eyeballs, take the two remaining individual egg cups. Before glueing them into the sockets, make sure they fit; the edges may need a bit of a trim to achieve the perfect fit. Now run a generous bead of glue all around their outside rims and place them firmly into the eye sockets. Glue the hole-punched pupils into the center of each eye ball. And finally, glue in the eyelashes.

Take the two rectangular teeth and glue them across the small mouth. Make sure the teeth overlap the bottom edge of the mouth a fair way - about 2 cm worked for me. Wait for the glue to dry.

Now adhere the mouth to the back of the rabbit's nose using a fair amount of glue. The mouth should overlap the nose slightly; you should be able to see into the mouth a little bit.

To accommodate the three long whiskers, poke a hole into each side of the nose using the end of the serrated steak knife.

Now for the tricky bit. To facilitate threading the whiskers through the nose, take a small piece of sticky tape and firmly join all three whiskers together at one end. Push the taped end into the left hole and through to the right one. Once safely through, trim off the taped end. Pull the whiskers through until they are centered. Apply a dab of glue to the entrance of each whisker hole to keep them in place.

Complete the craft by attaching a hanger to the back of your rabbit. I used a remnant of egg carton and glued it across the back of the eye sockets.

And there you have it, one Rabbit Wall Bust just for you! Mount this little guy in a special spot as an eclectic bit of Easter decor and as an interesting conversation starter.

Alternatively, you might even choose to forego the paint altogether and leave him completely "au naturel". Oh la la!

Thanks to our Guest Blogger Michele!

Michele Pacey is a wife and mom, an artist, crafter and notorious re-user. Her favorite craft supplies find their home in the recycling bin and she has no problem raiding it when the mood strikes. Find gobs of interesting egg carton, toilet roll, and junk mail crafts like this one on her craft blog: http://www.michelemademe.com/